POP-GUN
Cassell's Book of Sports and Pastimes (1890's)
The best of Pop-guns are home-made. Get a straight piece of even thickness out of an elder bush. The branches most suitable are those from about three-quarters of an inch to an inch in thickness; remove the pith from the inside, so as to form a hollow tube from end to end, and let the wood dry and harden. The ramrod should then be made of some hard wood, the handle of which is to be nearly as thick as the gun, but the ramrod must be evenly scraped until it is small enough to pass readily along the inside of the tube of the gun. The pellets, for ammunition, are to be made of moistened paper, or, if it can be obtained, of tow moistened; they should be made to fit tightly into the opposite ends of the pop-gun, and, indeed, should be forced in with the ramrod. When a pellet has been securely placed at each end, the ramrod should then be taken, and with it the pellet at one end is to be forced though the gun, and it will then drive out the pellet at the opposite end with a loud pop and considerable violence.
Toy pop-guns may be purchased of various degrees of elegance; but for excellence, although some approach, none exceed that made at home out of a bit of old elder stub.